A Beautiful Sight
by suspect tomatoes
Summary: Even during a blizzard, his smile could melt the snow. Christmas one-shot for Sunny's Priceless Dream. Ted/Sunny.


**A/N: Oh, hey, Sunny. Merry Edgemas! You're the first person I got inspired to write because my mom told me how my grandparents met today, and it was so cute, and I immediately thought of Ted. So I was like PERFECT CHRISTMAS STORY AFMKFMLAGM and so this was born. **

The snow was coming down way harder than anyone had expected. The weather channel had predicted just a couple of inches, nothing much, but the remnants of a powerful snow storm had blown in, blanketing the town with ice, wind and a foot or two of snow.

Sunny wished her fucking manager would just close the store, but of course, there was no way in hell he was going to turn away business.

Business.

She snorted and looked around the empty place.

"You know what, Sunny?" Her boss came out of the back, pulling on his coat. "Close up. There's no way anyone in their right mind would be out in this."

"_Finally_!" She shut down her register and went over to the doors to lock them, but just as her hand wrapped around the handle, a man was on the other side trying to pull it open.

And she definitely lost.

Brother was _strong_.

"Oh, Jesus," he breathed, grabbing her shoulder before she just about plowed into him. "I'm sorry. Are you guys closed?"

All she did was blink, mouth agape.

"Sunny, what are you—Who are you?"

The guy looked over her head and smiled at her manager. "Are you guys closed?"

"Are you gonna buy something?"

"That's the plan."

"We're open." He hit Sunny's register. "Open up, Sunny. And close your mouth."

Sunny shook the daze from her eyes and turned away, but the stranger kept his hand clasped tightly around her arm.

He had a smile on his face when she turned back. "Your name's Sunny?"

She could fall asleep to his voice, honestly. But she managed to nod and glance up at him, completely floored by his face. "Uh, yeah. Yep."

"I certainly like it sunny," he drawled, and glared at the snow behind him. "Don't really find the snow too appealing."

"You... I mean, you don't like the snow?"

"Nah. Grew up in Mississippi. Doesn't exactly _snow_ there." He walked into the store and shut the door tightly, putting his hands in his jacket. "I really don't know how you guys deal with this."

"It's not easy," she admitted, shrugging.

He stood there smiling at her for a couple of seconds, before he shook his head slightly and cleared his throat. "What'd I come here for?"

"I'm not too sure. Anything in particular?"

"Well, I'm staying here for a couple a days." He walked with her lazily, leaning against the register when she went behind it. "Didn't expect to get snowed in, so I guess I need some... food. And shampoo."

"Shampoo?"

"Those hotels don't give you enough in that tiny bottle." He smiled again, and his eyes reflected the brightness from outside. "So where's the food and where's the shampoo?"

"Opposite ends of the store." She grinned.

"I need a work-out, anyway." He walked away backwards, watching her as he turned. "I'll be back. Sunny."

Sunny's heart finally started beating again as he disappeared around the corner. She put her hand to her chest and just concentrated on her breathing.

"Well, it's warm in here."

Sunny jumped, turning to glare at her manager. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to witness that." He flapped his hand at his face. "I'm not paying you to swoon."

"I wasn't swooning!"

"He was flirting and you were melting."

"Shut _up_."

"_Sunny_!"

Both of them turned to the sound of that guy's smooth voice, somewhere deep in the store.

Her manager smacked her with the folder in his hand. "The customer is always right."

She made a face. "What does _that_ have to do with anything?"

"Go _help _him!"

"All right, I'm going!" Sunny stomped away from her register, heading down all the aisles. He wasn't in any of them. She backtracked and still no hottie. "Where are you?"

"WHAT?" he yelled.

"What _aisle_ are you in?"

"I'm right here," he said simply, and she whirled around. He took a step back, brows raised. "What's with the bug eyes?"

"You scared me." She laughed slightly, frowning when she saw he had nothing in his hands. "Where's all the stuff you need?"

"I can't reach the shampoo."

She crossed her arms. "You're joking."

"No, it's all the way down there." He pointed to the lowest shelf, grinning when she just stared at him. "What? I have bad knees."

"Oh, do you?"

"What can I say? I get beat up for a living. The knees are the first thing to go."

Sunny frowned, kneeling down to get the bottle he wanted. "What kind of job do you have?"

"I'm a wrestler."

"Oh." She looked up at him and blushed. She had no idea how tall he was—she barely reached his thighs. "I... Uh..."

He smirked down at her. "What?"

"Uh... What kind of shampoo do you want?"

"Hmm." He tapped his chin. "What kind you got?"

"Um..." She held one up. "This and... there's one way in the back."

"The one in the back."

She glared at him, smacking the bottle she had against his shin.

"Ow!" He hopped back, smiling. "That hurt."

"Bullshit, that didn't hurt."

"Did you feel it?" He lifted his leg and rubbed his shin, laughing slightly. "Jesus, you've got an arm on that tiny body of yours."

She knocked over half the stuff on the shelf, so lucky he couldn't see her face. She finally snagged the shampoo he wanted so badly and leaned back out, looking up to find his eyes heavily lidded as he watched her.

She cleared her throat and held up the bottle. "This good?"

He frowned at it, but took it anyway, his long fingers touching her own. "I don't really use this kind..."

"Tough." She stood up and dusted off her jeans. "Anything else?"

"No, I guess that's it."

"Okay. I'll be in the front if you need me."

He smiled. "I'm gonna hold you to that, Sunny."

"You got it...?" She pointed at him.

"Ted."

"Ted." She smiled. "Theodore?"

"Yeah. Ted Junior."

"Ted Junior." She bit her lip and spun around. "I'll... be waiting for you."

He raised his eyebrow, half smile showing some of his pearly whites. "Is that a promise?"

Sunny just covered her face and headed back to her register, glancing back at him. He didn't take his eyes off of her until she turned the corner.

Sunny barely had her breath back by the time she heard his shoes hitting the linoleum. She tried to find him online while he was shopping, and she finally found his wrestling information, along with a very wonderful picture of what he looked like underneath his button down and jeans.

Way better than she expected.

_Way better_.

But she closed the page when he came up to her, dumping his stuff on the counter.

"Find everything you needed?" she asked sweetly.

"Almost everything."

She started ringing him up, looking up at him out of the corner of her eye. He was grinning down at her, not exactly at her eyes, but just at _her_. His lashes lowered then lifted again, and his smile deepened.

Sunny licked her lips and figured out the total. "You didn't buy a lot to eat."

He shrugged. "I figured I could eat somewhere around the hotel."

"Where are you staying?"

"The Marriott a block down from the arena."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Why?" He looked at her skeptically. "Bad part of town?"

She shrugged. "Not for a tough guy like you."

He looked away and laughed, sliding his eyes back to her. "You're somethin' else, Sunny."

She winked at him, glancing at her screen. "Total comes to twenty-three sixty-seven."

He handed her twenty-five. "Keep the change."

"I can't—"

"Buy yourself a candy bar, or something." He gave her a wicked little grin and grabbed his stuff. "It was nice to meet you, Sunny."

"You, too, Theo."

He paused by the doorway, just looking at her, before he shook his head with a smile and headed out into the cold.

She fell against her register and glanced at the money in her hands, wondering if she could just swap it with her own cash so she can keep the bills that were still warm from his fingers.

She turned to put the money away, but the bell over the door jingled loudly, and she spun around, just as Ted came barreling through it.

"Forgot something," he said quickly, and reached across the counter, grabbing the back of her head. He was kissing her before she even realized it, but that didn't stop her from immediately gripping his hair, listening to the change he'd given her drop noisily to the ground.

He pulled back, breathing hard. "Can I have your number?"

Sunny could barely breathe herself. "Aren't you supposed to do that _before_ you kiss me?"

"I wasn't supposed to kiss you." He still hadn't let her go. "It just sorta happened."

Sunny smiled and put her arms down, not bothering to break his hold as she scribbled her number on the receipt he'd left in the register. She held it up, smiling when she realized his face was just inches from hers.

He smiled, taking the paper between his teeth.

Her heart was pounding when they finally let go of each other. "So. You busy tonight?"

He took the paper from his mouth and grinned. "No. Are you?"

"No. Mind if we hung out?"

"Not at all." He looked out the door, at the snow whipping around, and sent her a million dollar smile. "I could use some sunshine."

**A/N: Oh, and by the way, Sunny, you don't watch wrestling. Whoops! And hey, five stars to me for using the phrase "million dollar smile" in all seriousness. I hope you liked it, babe. Review. I mean it.**


End file.
